Who This Book Is For

This book is targeted towards developers. It is assumed that you have at least a basic understanding of JavaScript and jQuery selectors. If you are interested in building dynamic Single Page Applications that interact heavily with a backend server, then this is the book for you.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Instant Backbone.js Application Development

So, what is Backbone.js?

Installation

Quick start – building a Hello World app

Top 5 features you need to know about

People and places you should get to know

What You Will Learn

Use Models to store individual records of data

Work with Collections to iterate over individual Models

Utilize templates to make markup creation a breeze

Present your data to your user through Views

Trigger Events in your views

Develop pretty URLs using the Routing class

Keep a well-structured code directory

Persist your data to a webserver

In Detail

It’s easy to let a project get out of hand and become completely unmaintainable. However, this can be avoided by building a nicely-structured Backbone.js application. When working on a web application involving a lot of JavaScript, applications may end up as tangled piles of jQuery selectors and callbacks, all trying frantically to sync between the HTML UI, JavaScript logic, and the database on your server. With Backbone.js, you represent your data as models that can be created, validated, destroyed, and saved to the server.

Instant Backbone.js Application Development is a beginner-friendly book that will guide you through a step-by-step process to go from an empty project directory to a fully-functioning web application. The book also includes code samples that are easy to use and will guide you through the major features that Backbone.js has to offer.

Instant Backbone.js Application Development looks at the main types of objects that Backbone.js offers and has you instantiate specialized versions of each. These objects are stored in their own individual files and work together to build well-structured applications.

Your data will be stored using Collections and Models and presented to the user through Views and Templates. URLs will remain pretty and your browsing history will still work thanks to the Routing functionality. You will also learn how to build a JavaScript Single Page Application that communicates smoothly with your backend server using AJAX.

Authors

Thomas Hunter II

Thomas Hunter II is a Jack of all trades with over eight years of open source web development experience. This includes backend PHP / Node.js programming, MySQL / MongoDB database engineering, and frontend programming with JavaScript. He’s even done plenty of graphic design, game development, and music composition.

Alerts & Offers

Series & Level

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Learning

As a new user, these step-by-step tutorial guides will give you all the practical skills necessary to become competent and efficient.

Beginner's Guide

Friendly, informal tutorials that provide a practical introduction using examples, activities, and challenges.

Essentials

Fast paced, concentrated introductions showing the quickest way to put the tool to work in the real world.

Cookbook

A collection of practical self-contained recipes that all users of the technology will find useful for building more powerful and reliable systems.

Blueprints

Guides you through the most common types of project you'll encounter, giving you end-to-end guidance on how to build your specific solution quickly and reliably.

Mastering

Take your skills to the next level with advanced tutorials that will give you confidence to master the tool's most powerful features.

Starting

Accessible to readers adopting the topic, these titles get you into the tool or technology so that you can become an effective user.

Progressing

Building on core skills you already have, these titles share solutions and expertise so you become a highly productive power user.